Yom Kippur Learning Sessions

Our Yom Kippur Learning Sessions will run simultaneously on Monday, September 25 from 2:00-3:00pm. Below are the descriptions of each session. Please choose which one you would like to join us for. Please note that Creating Anew Amid Brokenness and Teshuvah for the Body are in-person only. The Origins, Paradox and Power of the Aleynu Prayer will be virtual only.

Creating Anew Amid Brokenness
Facilitator: Ellen Mosner and Rabbi Queen

During the High Holy Days, we are commanded to engage in cheshbon hanefesh – a self-accounting – to prepare ourselves for the inner and outer work of teshuvah – of repentance, repair, and return to the path toward becoming our best selves, and during the time, we will confront brokenness – harm we have experienced or caused in others. This can be painful – when something is broken, it will never be made fully whole again…but just as physical wounds heal and leave scars, teshuvah helps our brokenness to begin to heal, and to transform into something new. The art and craft of mosaic is a beautiful representation of the process of teshuvah – transforming broken pieces of glass, ceramic and other materials into something wholly new, unique, and beautiful. 

TOS member and artist, Ellen Mosner will offer a mosaic demonstration and an opportunity to dabble in mosaic art ourselves, and Rabbi Queen will lead a text study on Yom Kippur sources to help us begin to heal our brokenness, and from it, create a new in 5784.

Teshuvah for the Body
Facilitator: Sheila Queen, Certified Educator for Ageless Grace, Moving to Heal Instructor and Nia Blue Belt

We all know that Yom Kippur is a fast day, which many get caught up on – but it’s so much more! Fasting and the physical rituals of the Yom Kippur are meant to provide us with an opportunity to re-focus on what really matters, such as the process of teshuvah. Teshuvah is most often understood as the process of repairing our relationships and returning to our true path, and can also extend to repairing the often fraught relationship many have with our bodies.

Sheila Queen has taught mindful movement modalities since 2016 in a variety of settings, including hospitals, nursing homes, gyms and synagogues, and will lead a gentle movement session grounded in themes of the High Holy Days, set to calming music to help us move toward spiritual and physical healing. All abilities are welcome and honored – standing and seated options will be available, and all movements are optional. Those who wish to attend and simply enjoy the music are welcome too!

The Origins, Paradox and Power of the Aleynu Prayer
Facilitator: Dan Deykin

The Aleynu prayer migrated from its origin in the Rosh Hashanah service to conclude the daily service. It calls on us as Jews to worship God as ruler, but it also asked us over the years to acknowledge and confront our separate identity. It ends by expressing hope that all will someday accept the unity of the Divine. In this session, led by Past President Dan Deykin, will explore the origins, development, and meanings of this ancient prayer.